May we count your visit with Google Analytics? It uses cookies and sends visit data to Google. You can change this any time under Cookie choices. Privacy
UC Santa Cruz grade points run A+ and A 4.0, A− 3.7, B+ 3.3, B 3.0 and so on down to D− 0.7 and F 0.0, and your GPA is grade points ÷ credits attempted for a letter grade. P, NP, W, I and IP stay out of it. Retake a C−, D+, D, D− or F and, for your first 15 repeated credits, only the newer grade counts, even a C−; after that, every grade counts.
UCSC’s points: A+ 4.00, A 4.00, A− 3.70, B+ 3.30 and so on.
The plus/minus cutoffs Wikipedia lists for US colleges: A+ from 97%, A 93, A- 90, B+ 87, B 83, B- 80 and so on down to D- at 60. It is not universal, so use your syllabus's cutoffs when they differ.Source: Wikipedia, “Academic grading in the United States”.
Your class cutoffs
Letter
Lowest %
Remove
Each letter starts at its lowest percentage and runs up to the next letter.
Rounding and decimal places
Follow your syllabus. A displayed percentage can round up while the unrounded score stays below a cutoff.
Only changes how results are shown. Extra places appear when rounding would push a score over a letter cutoff.
A letter typed as a score counts as the lowest percentage for that letter on this scale. Use the original percentage when you have it.
Only scales that publish GPA points can convert a percentage. Check that your school uses these same points.
Example courses. Change them to yours, or
CourseGradeCredit hours
Include your earlier GPA
Quality points are the more exact input when the displayed GPA has already been rounded. Do not include these same credits again in the course rows.
Raise my GPA: what would it take to reach a target?
These are future credits beyond the courses and earlier record entered above.
Pass/fail or a retake: what would change?
Whether a pass/fail course leaves the GPA and whether a retake replaces the old grade are your school’s rules; the table below shows UCSC’s.
One grade higher: which course moves your GPA most?
Each line raises one course by one grade on the grade points above and leaves the others as entered, so a course that carries more credit moves the GPA more. A course you haven’t finished can be marked “Planned” in its ⋯ menu: the GPA so far then leaves it out, and the projection counts it at the grade you chose. A grade already on your transcript changes only under your school’s retake or grade-change rules.
Compare with a GPA line (dean's list, scholarship, good standing)Course groups and equal weights
Set a course's group or term, or mark it planned, in its ⋯ menu. Groups are just your labels: they don’t apply AMCAS or other application-service GPA rules.
Import courses from a transcript or spreadsheet
Copy the courses from your unofficial transcript, degree audit or a spreadsheet and paste them here, one course per line with its grade and credits. Term headings such as “Fall 2025” keep the courses in their terms. Your grades stay in this browser.
Line
Course
Read as
This replaces the courses above. You can put them back afterwards.
Save my courses or compare versions
Nothing is sent to us. Untick the box to forget them.
To compare plans, save the courses as they are now as a version, change them, and save again. Versions stay in this browser until you delete them.
Open a file you saved with “Save the versions to a file”, in this browser or another. It is read in your browser and sent nowhere.
UC Santa Cruz’s rules checked in its 2026–2027 General Catalog. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Grade points at UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz multiplies each course’s grade points by its credit hours, adds them up and divides by the hours that count. Enter your courses above with these points already set.
University of California, Santa Cruz letter grades and grade points
What W, pass/fail, incomplete, retakes and transfer credit do at UC Santa Cruz
A course left out of the GPA adds no points and no hours. In the calculator, choose its code or “Not counted”; a code that counts as zero lowers the GPA like a failing grade.
How UC Santa Cruz counts each code
Code
What it means
In the UC Santa Cruz GPA
A+
The top grade
Worth 4.0, the same as an A, so it adds nothing extra. Rule
C−, D+, D, D−
Passing, below C
Worth 1.7, 1.3, 1.0 and 0.7. They earn credit toward graduation, but can’t satisfy a major or general education requirement or a prerequisite. All four can be repeated, and within your first 15 repeated credits the repeat replaces them in your GPA. Rule
F
Fail
Counts 0.0 in your GPA and earns no credit for graduation. A lapsed incomplete becomes an F (or an NP if you took the course P/NP). Rule
P / NP
Pass / No Pass
Neither is in your GPA. A P means C-level work or better; below a C earns an NP and no credit. You need good academic standing to choose P/NP, by the ninth week; a request is canceled if you’re later placed on academic probation. No more than 25 percent of the UCSC credits you apply to graduation may be P/NP, and several majors want most or all major courses letter-graded. Rule
W
Withdrawal: you officially left the course before finishing it
GPA-neutral. A W is recorded if you withdraw after the add/drop deadline through the end of week 6; from week 6 to the end of week 9, students in good standing can take an NP instead, which is GPA-neutral too. A W counts as an attempt at the course when you repeat it. Rule
I
Incomplete: passing work missing some specific required work
Earns no grade points or credit until a final grade replaces it. You have one more quarter to finish; if no final grade arrives by the end of the next term, the I lapses to an F or NP, and that deadline has no exceptions. Rule
IP
In Progress
An interim grade; it earns no grade points or credit until a final letter grade replaces it. Rule
Repeated course
You took the same course again
You can repeat a course in which you got a C−, D+, D, D−, F, NP or W; in general you can’t re-enroll in one you passed with a C or P or better. For the first 15 credits you repeat, the original grade drops out of your GPA and only the last grade recorded counts, even if it’s lower. After 15 credits, every grade counts, and you get credit for the course only once. A W counts as an attempt. A C− through F can’t be repeated P/NP; an NP can be repeated P/NP or for a letter. Repeating a course more than once needs your college’s approval, and every grade stays on your transcript. Rule
Transfer credit
Grades from another college
Your cumulative UCSC GPA covers courses attempted at UCSC, which include UC Online and simultaneous enrollment, UC Education Abroad, UCSC exchanges, UCDC and UC Center Sacramento, Open Campus courses, the Intercampus Visitor Program and ROTC courses at Santa Clara and San Jose State. Your transcript also shows a summary UC GPA, which adds UC courses transferred to UCSC. Community college courses don’t count toward your UCSC GPA, and courses taken outside UCSC won’t be used to improve it. Up to 105 quarter credits (70 semester credits) of lower-division work from other colleges count toward your degree; past that, only subject credit. Semester credits × 1.5 give quarter credits, and the Office of Admissions decides what transfers. Rule
UC Santa Cruz GPA lines
These are UC Santa Cruz’s published undergraduate lines, each with the other conditions its catalog sets. Your college or program may set its own, higher lines.
Published GPA lines at UC Santa Cruz
GPA line
What it means
Also required
Below 2.0 term or cumulative UCSC GPA
Academic notice
Good standing needs a 2.0 UCSC GPA for the term and overall; you’re on notice for the next term. Passing too few credits with a C or better (or P) can also place you on notice. Full rule
Below 1.5 term GPA, or below 2.0 cumulative while on notice
Subject to disqualification
Your college may bar your enrollment for a set time with conditions on your return, disqualify you indefinitely, or waive it for a term, which is called Academic Notice — Subject to Disqualification. A bar or disqualification goes on your academic record, and courses taken elsewhere won’t raise your UCSC GPA. Full rule
2.0 in all letter-graded UC courses
Minimum GPA to graduate
Counted on courses at UCSC and other UC campuses. Every course for your major needs a P, a C (2.0) or better, and you need 180 credits. Full rule
2.50 UCSC GPA
Up to 22 credits in a quarter without special approval
Once instruction begins. In your first quarter, or with a lower GPA, you need your college advising office’s approval for more than 19 credits. Full rule
3.89 term GPA (3.86 for Baskin Engineering majors), fall 2026 to summer 2027
Dean’s Honors
You need at least 12 credits that quarter, 10 of them graded; the line is the University Honors (cum laude) line for your group that year. Dean’s Honors are listed on your transcript. Full rule
4.00 UC GPA (3.98 for Baskin Engineering)
Summa cum laude: top 2 percent of your group
University Honors need 70 or more University of California credits and are based on your cumulative UC GPA. The lines shown are for fall 2026 to summer 2027 graduates; the registrar resets them each year from recent graduates. Full rule
3.97 UC GPA (3.95 for Baskin Engineering)
Magna cum laude: next 3 percent
Same 70-credit minimum. University Honors appear on your diploma and transcript. Full rule
3.89 UC GPA (3.86 for Baskin Engineering)
Cum laude: next 10 percent
Same 70-credit minimum. Honors are removed if your record later changes so you no longer meet the criteria. Full rule
To see how far you are from one of them, enter it under “Compare with a GPA line” in the calculator, or as your target in the target GPA planner.
A worked example
UC Santa Cruz lets you repeat a C−, a passing grade, and for your first 15 repeated credits the new grade replaces it. Say you take three 5-credit courses and earn an A, a B and a C−: (4.0 × 5 + 3.0 × 5 + 1.7 × 5) ÷ 15 = 43.5 ÷ 15 = 2.90. You retake the C− course for a letter grade and earn a B+. The C− drops out of your GPA: (4.0 × 5 + 3.0 × 5 + 3.3 × 5) ÷ 15 = 51.5 ÷ 15 = 3.43. Past the 15-credit limit, both grades would count: (20 + 15 + 8.5 + 16.5) ÷ 20 = 60 ÷ 20 = 3.00. Either way the C− stays on your transcript and you get the course’s credit once.
The calculator gives an estimate from the grades you enter. Your official GPA is the one on your UC Santa Cruz academic record.
For any other college, the college GPA calculator starts on the common plus/minus 4.0 points and takes your school’s own. Cumulative GPA combines terms you already have, and the GPA guide answers what a GPA means.
